Made everything good about Resident Evil better and finally addressed everything that was bad about it.
Needless to say, Resident Evil 4 (RE4) is much more action orientated than previous entries in the series. Whereas previous games focused more on exploration, puzzles and scaring the sh*t out of you, this one is more about combat and killing. Whilst many RE 'purists' will baulk at this, it is in fact by far the best part of the game.
Thankfully the awful camera and controls from previous games have been abandoned and a new system has been introduced to accommodate the increased amount of action. The camera follows from a 3rd person view now. This is no run ' n ' gun game though. You still have to manually aim to use weapons and cannot move your body whilst aiming. This gives the game a much more tactical feel than standard shooters. The story generally takes a backseat to the action, but it will keep you driving forward for more answers until the very end. The dialogue can be laughably cliched and painful at times, but the voice acting itself is fairly decent and although it is difficult to take some of the characters seriously because of it (* cough Saddler *) it fits the game quite well. Another point of interest is that the PS2 version has several extras that the GC does not. Whilst Ada's extra sections are ok, the real meat of these extras is the mercenaries mode. The premise of this is to kill as many enemies in a set time limit as possible. Whilst it is much more complex than this, there are 5 characters available and 4 stages to play. Needless to say, this is possbily the best part of the game as it focuses on the game's strongist point - it's combat. The mercenaries mode could be a game all by itself, and the sheer hours you can squeeze out of it are phenomenal. In short, it probably doubles the lifespan of the game.
The graphics are decent, especically for a PS2 game, but the sound is superb. In particular, the breathless choking of a Regenerator will send shivers down your spine every time you hear it. The sound helps add atmosphere and character to the game, creating a truly sinister tone. In short, you have to own this game. It is a masterpiece of development and everything just comes together perfectly. Not only is the main game incredilbe, the extras are the icing on the cake, adding hours to an already legnthy game. The fact that it is a port is inconsequential, this is the greatest game to grace the PS2, period.